60 Days Out, and Voter Registration Update!

That’s how far out we are from one of the more important statewide primary elections in a generation, and the first in this era of Trump.

We are determining who to send into the Top 2 to be our next U.S. Senator, our next Governor, our next members of Congress, and our next members of the state legislature.

Especially locally, it is monumentally important to determine who we want elected to serve as our next District Attorney and Sheriff — and yes, even our next County Assessor/Recorder/Clerk, which is a far more important office than you may think.

There are a couple school board seats and city council seats up for election on June 5th as well.

We have a list of endorsements that our club has made so far on our website, with a couple more races and state propositions to consider at our April 19th meeting.

Yesterday, our endorsed LGBTQ candidate Sunday Gover who is running in the 77th State Assembly district highlighted burgeoning voter registration numbers that have increased our potential to flip this seat.

This got us thinking… what is our current snapshot of voter registration countywide? Well, ask and you shall receive!

If anything highlights the importance of our primary election this year, these latest voter registration numbers from the County Registrar of Voters should provide hope for Democrats — not only in June, but in November as well.

We are very proud that our club’s recent efforts in voter registration and outreach throughout the county over the last two years have helped in this regard.

To provide some context… two years ago, just prior to our Presidential Primary Election, Democrats only had a 46,435-vote advantage in registration countywide. Four years ago, just prior to our last Statewide Primary Election, we had a smaller 26,686-voter advantage.

If that doesn’t just knock your socks off, check this out… Our county is represented in seven State Assembly Districts: 3 have been held by Democrats, and 4 have been held by Republicans.

Here’s a snap shot of voter registration among our State Assembly districts immediately after the current lines were drawn in 2011:

We can see here that post-redistricting, Republicans held a 20,727-voter registration advantage in the 76th Assembly District (North Coastal San Diego County), and they held a 21,376-voter advantage in the 77th Assembly District (North San Diego and Poway).

Although President Obama carried San Diego County by 8 points in 2012 — despite the disadvantage in those two Assembly Districts, he barely lost both districts by less than a point in the 76th, and by 2 points in the 77th.

Fast forward to 2016. Hillary Clinton dominated Donald Trump in San Diego County — winning by 20 points — and, easily won both Assembly Districts by 12 points in the 76th, and by 16 points in the 77th.

That brings us here today. Here’s a snap shot of voter registration among our State Assembly districts as of the latest count:

We can see here that Republicans only hold a 941-voter registration advantage in the 76th Assembly District (North Coastal San Diego County), and a 2,301-voter advantage in the 77th Assembly District (North San Diego and Poway).

The prospect of having two LGBTQ Democratic Assemblymembers (Todd Gloria and Sunday Gover) representing San Diego is nothing short of historic. The prospect of electing another two Democratic women to represent us in Sacramento can’t be ignored either.

None of this happens unless we turnout and vote.

And every vote is going to count.

In Solidarity,

Ryan Trabuco
Vice President for Resource Development
San Diego Democrats for Equality